Wherever The Wind Blows
by lynfaythe
Summary: Monsters don't care if you're on a date when they attack - nor if the girl they just threw into a building was your girlfriend. Rated T for swearing.


_"He wished it were a dream. She was there, smile weak and eyes dim as she held his hand, silky orange hair resting like a halo around her face. She was gorgeous, he thought to himself, but her beauty did nothing to hide the pain in her expression. He wished it were only a nightmare."_

_Pair: Blossom and Brick_.

-

[ If only he ] acted selfishly and told her to leave the monster to her sisters, this would never had happened. He had accompanied her to the scene of the large, godzilla-esque creature terrorizing their beloved Townsville, expecting Blossom to quickly take care of the situation, like she always had, so they could return to their late night outing. Instead, he was there to bear witness to the sight of a scaled mitt wrapping itself around the pink superhero, antidote-x coated claws sinking into her skin before throwing her haphazardly to the side.

He should have been able to reach her. Her sisters, Bubbles and Buttercup who were only a hundred yards away, should have been able to reach her. They had only been able to watch, horrified by the blood coating the monster's claws and the shattered window - an entrance, but no exit from behind. With her powers, she would have been able to go straight through the building, unscathed. With her powers, nothing should have been able to break through her skin. Without them...

"Blossom!" Something screamed. He was dimly aware that his throat was raw, that tears were streaming from his eyes and down, down, down - hitting the pavement far below. He was pulling her body from the desk she had slammed into, flipping it but not crushing it, curling her frail, broken physique into his chest as he formed a red trail of light to her home in the suburbs of their town. He should be bringing her to a hospital, something inside of him registered. With antidote-x in her bloodstream, she was like a normal human. They could stitch her up, give her blood, whatever she needed.

The part of him that had let her fight the monster was screaming at him to take her to Professor Utonium. Why did he listen to it? Why was he continuing to listen to it's demands? All it was doing was hurting her! She was deathly pale now, and his heart was in his stomach. She couldn't do this right now, she couldn't leave him. She was Blossom - she was one of the PowerPuff Girls, dedicated to fighting evil, invincible. She couldn't just _die. _

The Professor looked frightened as he ushered Brick into his lab, a place he had not often visited before. He was shaking, nothing like the man whom had brought the girls to life and cared for them every day afterwards. That man had worried, sure, but never had he looked so... desperate. The table was already cleaned off, medical supplies spread out on a cart - a moniter was set up on a wall, displaying the other two PowerPuffs whirling around the monster and bringing it to its knees. His brothers had joined them. The Professor must have watched it happen - watched just as he had.

He was told to step back, to leave him space to work around her. She had broken many bones - her spinal cord was ruined, ribs in pieces, femur, clavicle, the back of her skull - which had then pierced organs, not to mention the two holes in her abdomen where the monster had ripped into her... The chemical-x the Professor had injected her with was working overtime, on top of the surgery the Professor and an on-call doctor were performing.

"She will live, but she won't be able to walk for a few days..." The doctor told them. The girls had arrived a few moments before, and were staring teary-eyed at their sisters motionless body - almost motionless, anyways. She was breathing, but only just barely, and with the help of a machine. Brick couldn't look. His chest felt empty, despite the promise that his girlfriend, his wonderful, know-it-all, stubborn, pain-in-the-ass girlfriend that he loved so much was going to live. That should have made him feel better. But the sight of her thickly casted legs and the braces that were keeping Blossom's neck and spine in place while her body healed had brought a new kind of pain into Bricks heart. How would he be able to look her in the eyes and tell her that he could have helped her? That he could have gotten to her on time, but for those few, terrible seconds, he had been frozen to the core with fright?

Hours past, and he was still in the lab, leaning against the counter. There was some color to her skin now, and her lips were chapped but not the horrible shade of purplish blue that sent shivers down his spine. He could have left - he almost had, when Bubbles and Buttercup came down the stairs with one of Blossom's nightgowns and underwear, sparing him only a light glare of warning that they would prefer him to leave before stripping her very gently of her medical gown and blood soaked bandages to give her a spongebath - but he knew that it would break her heart to wake up alone, while her boyfriend should be holding her hand. It hurt him to see her like this. He moved closer anyways.

She was slightly feverish, and sweat was building on her forehead and in the dip of her collar bone. A small buildup on the former began to drip away, sliding down and onto the back of her neck, so he took a clean, wet cloth and began to dab at her skin. He was so concentrated on doing so, that he didn't immediately notice the flutter of her eyelids, or the sickly smile that formed on her lips. "If I would have known that getting hurt would be the way to get you to be affectionate and doting, I might have gotten injured a while ago."

He reached for a bottle of water automatically, bringing it to her lips. His eyebrows twitched all the same. He tried to scowl, but how could he? He was the reason she was injured. The reason she had almost... He should have helped her. "That's a horrible joke." He grumbled, glancing down at her lidded, crusty eyes. How many times had he woken up beside her, and never once had he seen her in such disarray? When she didn't respond, he changed the topic. "I should have never let you go fight that monster."

It was Blossom's turn to scowl, and she managed to succeed - despite cracking her lips while doing so. "You didn't _let _me do anything. I'm a grown woman, and it's my reponsibility to protect the city." Brick grimaced - how did he have a knack for pissing her off so quickly? Bubbles' voice sang annoyingly into his head something about how they were two-peas in a pod.

"That monster nearly killed you, Blossom. You should have left it to your sisters!"

"If it had nearly killed me, then what would it have done to Bubbles and Buttercup, huh? I could never live with myself if they got hurt."

"But _you _got hurt, damnit! How would I have lived with myself if you had actually died? Fuck, I should have gotten to you... I should have beat that fucker myself."

Blossom stared at him, blinking. If she could slap him, she would have by now. Did he seriously blame what had happened on himself? "How self-centered can you be? What happened was not your fault, Brick! Now, let's stop arguing because we could be doing this all day. There's a million things that we could have done differently..." Suddenly, Blossom turned to the side and heaved. Green bile spilled across the ground, thick, hot and bubbling. Brick grimaced and pulled the bucket over to her. The Professor had warned him that it might happen - the chemical-x drew the poison and whatever was left of the antidote-x into her stomach, condensed it, and caused her body to expel it... in whatever way possible. Luckily, it chose his favored route - the others, as much as he loved Blossom, he didn't feel like cleaning up. He let her finish vomiting before pulling over a new cloth and her bottle of water - she rinsed out her mouth and spit into the bucket while Brick wiped away the bile clinging to her cheeks and lips.

"I'm sorry." He murmured, minutes later when he had finished cleaning up the mess. "You're in no state to be arguing with me and yet..." He opened his eyes to look at her, rubbing her fingers between his. He was sitting in a chair pulled up next to her cot. "I hate that I let that happen to you." He wished it were a dream. She was there, smile weak and eyes dim as she held his hand, silky orange hair like halo around her face. She was gorgeous, he thought to himself, but her beauty did nothing to hide the pain in her expression. He wished it were only a nightmare. How else would the girl he loved be the only one to bare proof of that battle?

"I'm going to get hurt every once in a while, Brick. I'm a superhero - I help people, no matter the cost. The good thing is, is that I have you and my sisters to help me when I do, and I for you guys..." She was tired, he noticed. Her eyes were closed again, and her breathing was slowing down and evening. He kissed her fingers as she drifted off to sleep. She had that right, at least. He would be with her. Wherever the wind blows.


End file.
